This year we decided to take it a step further and tried our hardest to make as many homemade gifts as we possibly could. As you will see with the following pictures, I crocheted just about everyone on both sides of our families something special while the hubby prepared some pretty awesome cookie and soup mixes in a jar.
My family has already received their presents because we combined "Christmas" with the weekend in which we threw my sister a baby shower. My hubby's family will be receiving their presents on Christmas.
Here are the Choco-cherry cookie jars that my hubby made. He also made Double chocolate peanut butter cookie jars and a mushroom/lentil/pasta soup mix jar. He made a total of 24 jars and they will be/have been handed out to family members, co-workers and close friends. The cookie jars also had some fun Christmas shaped cookie cutters attached.
These are some pot holders that I made to go with some of the jars...mostly co-workers and friends will receive these. How fun right?!
I had no clue what to make for the boys in my life so most of them got some form of warm hat :-) My brother and father are avid hunters so I made them in Pumpkin Orange so they can stand out in the woods. I was going to make them scarves as well until I randomly found a pattern for neck warmers. They are meant to be worn like my father has his on in the picture but they also discovered upside-down might work too since their breath could be caught in the neckwarmer and keep their chins warm....interesting...hope it works!
My sister is modeling her brand-y new baby blanket that I made for herself and her hubby. They are expecting their first bundle of joy at the end of January and we are all ECSTATIC! First grandchild on either side of their families...this kid is going to be CRAZY spoiled! (Side note...yes she is 7.5 months pregnant here and you can't even freakin tell! I hate her! - I only say that because it is guaranteed that I will NOT look like her at all when I get pregnant!)
This is my mom's afghan. I really LOVE how it turned out. I decided to do something fun and join in a "Mystery Crochet-Along" that the Bernat blog sponsored. I started back in October (I think) and the blog gave you a clue each week for squares to make. By early December you had a complete afghan to keep for yourself or give as a present. I started off with the recommended yarn colors from Bernat with the intention of giving the afghan to Mom but the colors were just not her....so I went and bought some yarn in the color "denim" which is much more her style. I love the way it came out. The yarn was a bit thinner than the Bernat yarn so I had to use a smaller hook which made the overall afghan smaller than I would have liked but I am still happy with the result. She loved it! AND I still have the other yarn to make my very own afghan when I have some down time. I can't wait!
My other sister is quite finicky when it comes to homemade presents. I wanted to make her a shawl that she could keep at work in case she got chilly. I had a BEAUTIFUL pattern all picked out. I attempted it about 25 times and enlisted the help of another crocheter...it was not meant to be. I was quite disappointed but I really think the pattern was not correct. Anyways, this is a second pattern that I really liked and I was impressed with the finished product. I bought a really nice pin to go with it so that it would stay wrapped around her. It was a success...she liked it a lot (or she played it up really well so as to not hurt my feelings) :-)
Here's an up close shot of the stitches. The yarn I used went really nicely with the pattern and it was fun to work with.
So that ends my side...on to my hubby's side of things.
This afghan is one of my favorite designs. It is really easy to crochet in a hurry and it is a fun pattern. This particular one is going to a family that is friends with my hubby's fam. It is a single parent household and each year we try to give them a fun family experience where they can enjoy each others company. To go along with this afghan we are going to give them a DVD of one of my all time favorite Christmas movies..."Santa Claus The Movie" - not well known but great flick, popcorn and hot chocolate. I think they will really like it!
My hubby's bro is receiving this hat/scarf set. I think he is really going to like the colors and how warm it is. Making this set led to my making my hubby a set for his birthday and a hat/scarf/mitten set for me. I did not have the ear flaps or pom-poms on mine...purely because making pom-poms is NOT my most favorite activity in the world!
Ooooh this shawl is another one of my favorites! It will be going to my mother in law and I love everything about it! The color, the pattern, how easy it was to crochet. Not gonna lie, I bought some yarn and plan to make one for myself after the Christmas season is past us.
And last but not least here is a shawl for my grandmother in law. I am quite nervous to give this to her! I think out of all the presents, this is my best work...but it has to be...Lola was a life long crocheter until a couple years ago when she encountered some medical issues and no longer able to crochet. It is triangular in shape and super soft and super warm. I really hope she likes it!
Up close shot of the stitches.
So that is what I have been up to lately.
I am still trying to get something finished for my father-in-law but not sure I am going to complete it in time for the holiday. It is the first time I am attempting socks so I'm a bit nervous but socks are really what he would appreciate the most. If they turn into a miserable disaster and don't work out for Christmas - he will definitely get a pair for his birthday (which is early February...so no need to fret on my part...he will understand).
I hope you have enjoyed my pictures. I love looking at all the wonderful projects that have kept me busy since August. I have 3 other projects that I have been working on but I will save those for another post since this one is already a little overwhelming.
Happy Holidays!
